Eric Beckett Weaver

No. Keep the attention/pressure up!

Umm... tradingeconomics.com/country-list...

Try making coffee at home? You can make better than Starbucks if you buy decent coffee beans

Poland already borders Russia.

Has Poland asked NATO for help with this yet?

North Korea. Russia. Somalia. There are a hell of a lot

Since when is 40c "life-threatening"???

Hungarian Márka Meggy (sour cherry flavour) was drinkable, and you can still find it in some places. Traubiszoda is and was an abomination, though it had some real grape juice in it.

Isn't it ironic that the guy who embodies the saying "Owe a little, the bank owns you: owe a lot, you own the bank.", is arguiing that debt is bad?

Seen what the minimum wage buys people these days?

Some people can't read even as adults. And they still might be great parents. Some highly educated people are horrible, horrible parents. I think you're mixing up metrics

I'm not sure. Weren't there kids in your school who couldn't keep up, for whatever reason? Dyslexia or whatever. I think one of those kids became this mechanic and he's making a decent living. You find ppl like that raising cattle, plumbing, driving trucks As long as they're doing well, that's a win

I disagree. I accept that there are people in all countries who don't know the difference, and don't think they should be insulted because of that. They may be excellent in their jobs, and (more importantly) kind caring people. I don't expect mechanics to be grade school teachers

Counterpoint: We are all better in some things than others. That mechanic understands some things you and I can't. It is the sum of votes that comprise the whole, and each voter brings his/her own viewpoint. He
may not care about foreign policy, and that's okay.

Having spent some time in Serbia and Croatia, I am convinced that the avg Serbian mechanic has no idea where Equatorial Guinea is, and can hardly write in his native language. I was once called G. Erić by a (rather nice) Serbian cop, btw. No problem. American mechanics aren't making foreign policy.

Does the poll include RS? And are there regional differences in the data?

Cute, but as long as he's a good mechanic, doesn't matter? I don't expect farmers to even be able tp spell.

Haven't been listening to Gavin N., have you?

Russian Pillage of 1719–1721 - Wikipedia

You should add Sweden. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian...

This particular wheeze is only real in the sense that "the earth is flat " is real. Believe what you will.

No, you didn't get it. Having read Rousseau and thought about the concept, I find it a crock. It is as fictional to me as Houris. Rousseau is great, but off on this. Similarly, I can say nice things about the first part of the Communist Manifesto, while the second part is gobbledigoop.

Rousseau came up with the idea in the 18th Century. We're in the 21st, and it is less relevant now than ever. It's an elite concept that just doesn't make sense to most people's reality.

I already clarified that I do not believe that the "social contract" is something the majority of people could define, or would find relevant if it were defined for them. It's not just that most people don't believe in it (such as myself) it's that it is utterly irrelevant for the vast majority.

Between rules, and "the social contract"?!! Surely you can tell the difference. I'll give you a start: Get caught breaking rules, and there will be consequences. Break the ephemeral social contract (how, exactly?) and nada

That's like telling a Christian to give up his belief that Islam is wrong (which or vice versa). I will defend your right to believe in the social contract, but don't expect me to follow you there.

Well, the social contract doesn't exist for me, in any sense. I'm holding my judgement on fairies, sprites, pixies and such. Rules, norms, laws, decency, etc do exist, in my view anyway.

Want to bet that 9 Americans out of 10 can't define it? While we're on the topic of science fiction, do you believe that the invisible hand also exists?

Did it? And words are names for things that exist without being named? So, Zeus, ghosts, elves, leprechauns, and banshees exist?

I doubt that most people have ever heard of the social contract.

Pretty sure the prohibitions against murder predate the creation of the phrase "social contract" by thousands of years.